Curiousity Killed The Cat
by Laura x Tennant
Summary: Rose wants to know what the Doctor meant by that thing he said. So she asks him. And she can't believe it... Here's another of my Rose/Ten plotless fluffy romance-y stories that's seriously good for the soul :D Please take a look, hope you enjoy! x
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hiya, me again :D Set somewhere in series 2. You probably know what sort of story this is...the Rose/Ten fluffy romance you usually get from me. Hope you like! Love Laura xxx**

**Curiosity Killed the Cat...And All That**

The Doctor's currently half under the console, his legs sticking out from beneath it, and Rose is lying on the captain's chair reading a book. Well. She says she's reading. What she's _really _doing is contemplating. Well. She tells herself that. What she's _really _really doing is _plotting_.

_I can't stand this. This...uncertainty. Not knowing. It's driving me crazy. He's just __**lying **__there like nothing's happened, fiddling with wires and god knows what while I'm lying here, barely three feet away, and I still don't know what he meant by what he said. I mean...did he mean it? I doubt it. It wasn't very... Doctor-ish. Do Time Lords even understand the concept? He's never shown any notion of it before. Right. I've just got to ask him. I'll just...come right out and say it. And then...well, it's up to him. He probably won't answer. He'll probably ignore it, or shrug it off, or answer the question with a question of his own, or distract me with the promise of 'a really brilliant adventure, Rose – the planet Doobrey Whatsit has fantastic sunsets... etc etc.' But it doesn't matter, because at least then...then, the words will be said, more or less, and he'll know that I __**did **__mean what __**I**__ said. _

_He'll know._

_And that's all that counts. _

_Right. Here goes nothing..._

She drops her book to the floor and sits up straight. "Doctor...?" she says softly.

"Yeah?" he calls back, head still under the console. _Act like nothing's happened, _he thinks to himself.

"Can I...ask you something?"

"Course! What's up?" _Rassilon, I sound so thick. Of course I know what's up._

"You might not like what I'm going to say..."

"Oh?" he replies, pulling himself up off the floor. He looks at his oily hands disdainfully for a moment, before shrugging to himself and wiping them on his trousers. He stands leaning against the console watching her warily for a few moments, then shrugs his shoulders once again. "Say it anyway," he laughs. He's determined that she's going to make the first move here.

"I don't know if I should, really," she murmurs quietly.

"Why did you mention it then?" he chuckles, before muttering something about 'women' and 'human, at that' under his breath.

"Cos it's annoying me," she tells him. _How can he not know what I'm going on about? Was it all just a game to him? Was he just messing around? Why hasn't he mentioned it? It's been at least an hour since it happened. Surely fixing the TARDIS couldn't have made him forget what had happened so quickly?_

"So you want it to annoy me too?" he counters, smiling at her cheekily.

"_No. _I need to ask it so that it doesn't annoy me anymore."

"Then...ask away!" he says cheerfully. _I really should put her out of her misery and tell her that we need to talk about earlier myself. But I'm too much of a coward, so..._

"But..." she trails off.

"Rose. How bad can it be? Seriously, just ask me. Anything you want."

"Anything?"

"Any - " he pauses for an instant, realising the implications of him saying that. Then he nods his head, all the while thinking and promptly ignoring: _it's Rose, it's bound to be something personal, even if she isn't talking about earlier._ Thing is, he's so enraptured by her, that he'll do or say anything she asks now. Which is wrong, and vaguely troublesome, and he knows he's going to regret it but he doesn't really care because _it's Rose._ "Anything," he repeats.

She merely bites her lip.

"Well, go on then, haven't got all day. Although, you should be careful. Remember what curiosity did to that poor cat. But that's not going to happen to you, I don't think. So, go on, ask your question," he prompts light-heartedly.

She rolls her eyes at him. "Well, I...erm...I've got lots of things that I'd like to say actually..." she replies.

He nods and moves to sit next to her, and is surprised when she shifts slightly so that his arm isn't against hers and his knee isn't bumping into hers and his hand can't find its way to hers and _Rassilon. When did things like simply sitting next to each other get so intimate? Oh. Yeah. From the beginning really. But when did I start to __**miss **__it when it wasn't there? _

_Oh. Scratch that. I think it's the same answer. Oh dear._

_Hang on._

_Why __**is **__she shifting away? We always – as I've just discovered – we __**always **__sit close to each other. Why's now any different? What have I done to upset her? Surely what happened earlier couldn't have upset her. What have I...I don't think I've done anything...nope... Honestly. I've said it before and I'll say it again: __**women! **__More than that. __**Human **__women! Why do I always get involved with human women? Not that I actually get very involved, that is. Weeelll, apart from with Rose. I'm quite involved with her. Much more so than anyone else. Yes. Involved. Weeellll, not 'involved' how some people think, no. No, of course not. We aren't 'like that' as such. Not at all, actually. Although, sometimes I think that maybe...No. No. Definitely not. But earlier...that was quite...and I did say...and I think I'd quite like to...because I do quite...you know...and...no. No! Rassilon. I think my mind goes to mush when she's around..._

She's averting her gaze from his.

"Rose? Rose, what is it? Have I done something wrong? Rose?" he asks, only partially aware that he sounds a little desperate.

She feels bad for him getting so worried and turns to look at him, and his shoulders relax a little as she gives him a soft smile. "No, you haven't done anything wrong. Well, yeah, you sort of have, but it doesn't matter. Not really. Not important. What I really want to ask is: why do you hate pears so much?" she asks him, and she instantly looks happier, all other thoughts and questions put to the back of her mind.

It seems she's just as much of a coward as him.

He eyes her sceptically. "They are just...yuck. Disgusting. All squishy and icky and spongy and Rose, why are you asking me this when it's blatantly obvious that's not what you wanted to ask me really? Oh...and _what _have I done now that's wrong but 'not important?'" _Was what I said earlier really all that wrong? I quite liked the idea. I mean, we almost...if it wasn't for those things going wrong and interrupting..._

She takes a deep breath. _Uh-oh. Should have known he wouldn't let me get away with it that easy..._

"It doesn't matter," she says, but the Doctor's not convinced.

"Yes it does."

"Ok. Fine! Earlier on, yeah? When you...did what you did and said what you said...what did you mean?"

"Oh, is that it?" he asks, feigning ignorance, jumping up and fiddling with some levers and buttons that don't really need to be fiddled with. "I thought you were going to ask me what my real name was or ask me to offer some other equally mysterious information about me."

"Well, the thought had crossed my mind in the past but I know that you'd never answer _that," _she replies.

"Wouldn't I?"

"No."

He sniffs. "Yeah. You're probably right," he concedes.

Actually, he probably would tell her if she asks him, because...well. _She's Rose._

"Anyway, you'd still be the Doctor to me so I don't really need to know your real name, do I?"

He stares at her in awe for a few moments. "Right," he finally says. It then occurs to him, for about the twelfth time that day, that she's even more brilliant than he thought. And he rather lo...

"So?" she says exasperatedly.

"What?" he retorts.

"You gonna answer my real question or not?"

He shifts from foot to foot for a second. "Yes. Ok. Right. Well...when you say what I did and said, what are you relating to exactly? "

She glares at him. "You know what."

And he does. He really does.

**TO BE CONTINUED...NEXT CHAPTER = FLASHBACK TIME... :D**

...

**A/N: Please drop a review to let me know if you liked it/loved it/loathed it etc :D Loveya xxx**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**~~~FLASHBACK~~~**

"Now _that _was fun!" Rose exclaims, panting for breath as they arrive back inside the TARDIS. She wanders over to the jumpseat and drops her numerous shopping bags next to it.

The Doctor spins around to look at her quizzically. "You have a _very _strange notion of the definition of 'fun' Rose Tyler. That, what I just had to endure, was most definitely not 'fun.' Torture more like..."

"Hey – says the man who rolled down a hill on the planet Trovoscoit, landing right _on top of me _at the bottom, I may add_, _because – and I quote - 'weeellll, it looked like it'd be a laugh.'" She takes off her jacket and throws it over one of the columns as she speaks.

"Yeah, but you loved it," he replies, grinning widely.

"What?" she exclaims in surprise.

"Me, landing right on top of you." He leans against the console, facing her.

"You _hurt _me! I swear you almost broke my arm!"

"Nah, but you had this strange little look on your face, which I've since concluded is your 'the Doctor's very close to me right now and I like it a lot' face," he teases. He's sure he shouldn't be doing this. It's very dangerous. Especially since he's presuming quite a lot here. But...he doesn't really care.

"Oh yeah?" she retorts, her voice suspiciously high-pitched for someone who is trying to appear indifferent to her friend's teasing.

"Mmhmm."

"I think you're wrong. I think it's my 'Oh my god, get this weird alien away from me' expression."

"It really isn't," he insists.

"Yeah, well. That's nothing compared to the look you have on _your _face in similar situations."

"What's that look like then?" he asks her, his eyebrow raised curiously. Then, it occurs to him that he probably shouldn't have asked that. Her reply could be quite embarrassing. Especially when the fact that Rose is very perceptive, and his thoughts were often...about her... is taken into account. She could probably tell that he constantly wants to kiss her from a mile away. Everyone else can.

"God knows, but it's really rather funny." she mocks, smiling cheekily.

He sighs in relief, but makes it look like a huff of indignation. "That's rude. What would you say if I told you that I was thinking really nice thoughts about you in those moments?"

"I'd say, you're a liar, you're sooo actually thinking 'how can I get away, without her realising I'm embarrassed?'"

"I am not."

"No?"

"No."

"What are you thinking then?"

He tugs his ear, suddenly nervous. "Well. You know. Lots of things. Big, Time Lord brain, this," he says, tapping the side of his head. "Can think hundreds of thoughts simultaneously."

"_Really?_" she asks, feigning total disbelief and wonder.

"Yes, really. And you wouldn't be being all sarcastic like that if you knew what some of them - weeelll, most of them, weeelll, all of them, really - were centred around."

Her brow knits together in an exaggerated pretence of confusion. She mock-gasps. "Oh my...Doctor, when you're lying on top of me, or standing close to me, or hugging me...you don't think about _bananas_ do you?"

"Rassilon, no. Just dancing," he replies simply, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Rose ignores her blushing cheeks, revelling in their playful banter. "_Ohhh. _Well, Doctor. You ever want to act on those thoughts..." she begins, winking at him as she gathers up her bags. She doesn't fail to notice the way his eyes widen a little at her words, and how his hands are suddenly grasping the sides of the console rather tightly. Hiding a smirk, she continues, "...you can always try and find Captain Jack. I'm sure he'd just _love _to have a dance with a horny Time Lord like yourself."

And with that, she wanders off down the corridor towards her bedroom.

The Doctor stands there, blinks a few times, and promptly decides he's had enough of all this teasing.

He takes a few steps forward, prepared to follow her and show her just who he'd rather re-enact those sorts of thoughts with.

And then he realises that he is the Doctor, and she is Rose, and they are just friends, and anything else would be wrong and far, far too complicated.

Never mind the fact that he's fallen in –

No.

No, he hasn't.

She's human, he's a Time Lord, and they just travel around the universe together. That's it.

That's _it._

_Liar._

He stands there, totally confused at how to play this. Does she want him to follow her? Or was her going back to her room a way for her to subtly get away from all the flirting? From him?

_Hmmm..._

He goes to her room anyway, and walks right in without knocking, just like usual.

Spinning around to face the door in shock, Rose quickly grabs an empty bag up to hold in front of her. She'd been planning on trying on her new clothes, and is currently standing in just her bra and knickers.

Whoops. He has this feeling he should probably turn around and walk right out of her bedroom again, but he can't quite make himself move away. He simply...stares at her, his eyes wide open, his jaw dropped somewhere suspiciously like the floor.

She speaks first. "Erm...Doctor? Do you mind?"

"No," he murmurs, shrugging, regaining his composure to attempt at appearing unaffected by the incident. He isn't. The only thoughts currently running through his head are Rose-in-her-underwear thoughts. Rose. In her underwear. Rose, in nothing but her underwear. Roseinherunderwear. Rose. In. Her. Underwear.

Since when is the Doctor so affected by that sort of thing?

Oh. Right. Since he just saw Rose In Her Underwear. Got it.

"Well, tough, 'cos I do. Haven't you heard of knocking?" she asks him.

"Not really, no," he replies, and he looks her in the eye. "I'm sorry," he tells her sincerely. "I just came in here to...to erm, ask you if you wanted anything."

"Huh?" she asks, rather eloquently, she thinks, for someone who is trying not to get all flustered under the very intent gaze he's bestowing upon her.

"Do you want...erm, would you like anything? I don't kn...To drink, or erm...eat?" he asks, aware of his stuttering and not completely sure how to go back to sounding like his normal, polite and professional, Doctor-ish self.

"I'm good, thanks," she replies, convinced that's not what he came in to ask her.

"Right, yes, course you are – I'll just...yeah..." He turns around to exit her room but stops when he hears her call his name. "Yeah?" he replies, spinning back around.

"I was just about to try on this dress I bought, but the zip's a bit dodgy, so could you, like, wait right there for a second, while I put it on, then do it up for me?" she asks him innocently. _Just being curious, _she tells herself. _Let's see whether he'll accept..._

His eyes widen, but he finds himself nodding quickly. "I...yeah. Ok."

"Thanks. Close your eyes a sec then." _Oh god. He's going to touch me. I have to make sure I don't let him notice how much he affects me..._

"Sure." He does as he's told, listening to the rustle of a bag, then the sound of material slipping over skin. For some, rather inappropriate reason, the Doctor's Rose Senses were on full alert now (well. Like they always are, really) and he can hear every whisper of fabric, every sigh that slips from her mouth, every inch of the zipper as she does it up as far as she can on her own. He imagines the way she looks right now: her tongue no doubt poking out of the corner of her mouth and a frown gracing her brow in fierce concentration; her gorgeous blonde hair fluttering around her face, wisps of it sticking to her lip-glossed lips; her arm contorted behind her to pull the zipper up her back; the dress half open where she can't reach it all the way. He thinks that she'll be looking just about perfect right now.

"Doctor," she commands.

He opens his eyes and is astounded to see that 'just about perfect' doesn't half cover it.

She looks divine.

"Doctor?" she prompts, when she sees him simply staring at her again, his mouth hanging open.

Her voice snaps him out of his trance, and he leaps into action. Walking over to her, he motions for her to turn around. Over her shoulder, he looks into her reflected eyes in the full-length mirror located in front of her. She stares back, waiting patiently.

He glances down to her back, and hesitantly reaches for the zip, mortified to see his hands are _shaking. _He's a _Time Lord, _for Rassilon's sake. This shouldn't be happening. He shouldn't feel like this.

Like he wants to _lower _the zip rather than do it up.

He's her _friend._

But...this is Rose. And Rose has made him feel different from the moment she ran into his life.

However, she's just his companion, his rather brilliant best friend. Just because she's so beautiful; just because he's let her so much further into his world than he's never let anyone before...it doesn't mean he can let things get _like that._

He starts to pull the zipper up, and as his fingers brush against her skin, he feels her shiver. He glances up to look at her reflection again, and almost wishes he hadn't. Almost. She's biting her lip and her eyes have fluttered closed and she looks so incredibly sexy that it's all he can do not to spin her around and passionately kiss her against that very mirror.

And looking at himself and her right now, standing like this, so close, so intimate, his breath ghosting over her neck, a small sigh escaping her parted lips...

...that's when he realises.

Or at least, that's when he knows for certain.

He's in love with her.

He continues zipping up her dress, agonisingly slowly, his knuckles brushing her bare back lightly, giving her goosebumps. And all the while, he watches her reflection. She opens her eyes when he's finished, matching his gaze in the mirror, and neither of them moves an inch for several moments.

Eventually, the Doctor moves his hand, lightly tracing over the silk fabric now covering her back. "There you go," he murmurs.

She smiles. "Thank you. Do you like it?"

"Oh yes. Very much."

"Good."

"You look beautiful," he tells her reflection.

She turns to face him, and his hands leave her back to hang by his sides. "Really?"

"Yeah. Where are you planning on wearing it? It's a bit posh to hang about the TARDIS or chase aliens in," he points out.

"Dunno, really. Just saw it and thought, 'why not?' It's been a while since I've had the chance to dress up. Why don't you take us somewhere?" she suggests.

"What, like, for dinner? At a...restaurant?" he questions curiously.

_Right, he suggested it. Not me. That counts for something, right? s_he thinks to herself. "Up to you. Would you want to?" she asks, giggling lightly.

"It's a bit..."he begins.

"Domestic?" Rose interrupts, laughing.

"I was going to say, _romantic."_

She blushes. "Yeah, well. Sometimes girls like that," she tells him, smiling cheekily.

"Even if she's being romanced by an alien?" he teases. _Oops, where did that come from? I shouldn't go giving her ideas..._

"Especially then," she whispers, looking up at him seriously.

He blinks at her. "So...are you saying you want me to take you out on a date?" _That could be...weeelll, that could be...curious..._

"I don't know. Am I?"

He stares at her intensely for a few moments, not answering her.

"If I was...would you?" Rose asks.

He reaches up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Yes," he says, so quietly that she would have missed it if she hadn't been looking at his lips so intently.

She takes a sharp intake of breath and opens her mouth to reply, when suddenly the TARDIS lurches and they both end up sprawled on the floor of her bedroom.

"What was _that?"_ she asks him hurriedly.

"No idea," he replies, completely intent on ignoring it ever happened. He'd been about to tell her something very, very important, and he hates the fact that he was interrupted so forcefully. He leans on one side to look at her. "Probably just a - "

The TARDIS lurches again, and the pair of them are thrown over to the other side of her bedroom. Rose is momentarily mortified to watch as the Doctor reaches beneath him to bring out the pink bra he'd been flung on top of. He simply raises an eyebrow, a small grin gracing his lips, and passes to her. "As I was going to say, it's probably nothing. Just a - "

This time, he's interrupted by an almighty alarm ringing in their ears.

"Oh yeah, sure - that's just nothing," Rose replies sarcastically.

So much for trying to ignore that they'd been interrupted. As the ringing gets louder, the Doctor jumps up, pulling Rose up with him. "Hmmm. I wonder what's going on..."

They take a brisk walk to the console room, not quite touching each other but standing very, very close. So close that he can feel the warmth of her body radiating out of her.

He runs over to the console screen before he can get too distracted by her, and lets out a sigh of relief. Pressing a few buttons here and there, he calls back to her over his shoulder. "It's alright, the TARDIS' automatic atomic complosure redraftifier got a bit reversed, that's all," he says. Or at least, it sounds something like that – all technical and that – but she can't hear the words with perfect clarity because of the consistent ringing in their ears. Nevertheless, she hears him continue, "Needs a bit of rewiring, shouldn't take five minutes, and then we can - "

"How come?" asks Rose, not in the least bit put out that that had to happen then of all the moments. Not in the least.

_Liar._

"Erm, not sure really. Could be to do with that vortex-ical storm-y thing I told you about before we went shopping but...oh. _Oh. _Oh dear. It's not working...damn. Right, it's going to take longer than five minutes. Hopefully if I can..." he carries on muttering as he pops his head under the console, fiddling around a bit. "...and then I can at least stop the alarm sound..." she just about hears as he comes back out. Thankfully, the ringing stops at last, but the TARDIS is still shaking slightly. He turns to face Rose, a regretful expression on his face. "Erm...this is going to take a while...I'm sorry, I didn't want t- "

"It's alright, Doctor. You fix it. I'm going to go and have a shower and get changed."

"Ok," he replies, spinning away from her. Then his face drops slightly when he realises that means she's taking off that dress. She's obviously not going to push for that...date...thing they had sort of planned.

That's when he decides something. He turns around again to tell her that actually, stuff the TARDIS, he can fix her later, let's have a bit of a snog first...but Rose has already gone. He sighs, and rests his hand on the console behind him, before yelping as an electric shock drives through him. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry. I'll fix you now..." he murmurs to the TARDIS.

"Erm, sorry, Doctor. But before you get stuck into that, could you get me _un_stuck out of this dress?"

At the sound of her voice, the Doctor spins around for yet another time. He just looks at her, an amused expression on his face.

"Doctor? The zip? Seeing as you got me into it..."

"Oh, right, yes, of course..."he replies, walking over to her. She turns around and his fingers fumble at the zip once again, taking longer than is strictly necessary to undo it.

She throws a smile at him over her shoulder once he's completed his task, and walks away.

All the while trying to dispel images of things such as: Rose In Her Underwear, Rose In Her Sexy Silky Red Dress, and Rose In Her Shower, (the last of which, he actually considers, may prove fatal. He is going on 905 years old, after all. It's quite possible the sight of a Wet Naked Rose may give him a hearts attack) the Doctor sets to work fixing the TARDIS.

The next time he hears her voice, she's lying on the captain's chair pretending to read a book.

**~~~FLASHBACK ENDS~~~**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Well?" she prompts.

The Doctor scratches behind his ear nervously. "I meant what I said. If you want me too, I'll take you out to dinner. You can wear your Sexy – I mean, lovely, _lovely – _new dress, and we'll have the most romantic date in the most romantic restaurant in the whole universe."

She raises an eyebrow. "Right, but what do _you _want?"

He blinks at her and doesn't say anything.

"You said, if _I _want you to, you'll take me. Which implies you'll only do it if I want you to."

"Well, I'm hardly going to take you somewhere against your will am I?" he counters, confused at what her issue with the idea is.

"That's not what I meant. I meant, would you ever take me because _you _want to, or is it just because you think _I _want you to?"

"I don't _think_ you want to, I know you do," he insists.

"I don't," she murmurs quietly.

"What?" he replies, deflated by her response.

"I don't want you to take me out on a romantic date."

"But I thought you said..." he trails off. He's thoroughly confused now.

"No," she says. She needs to test him.

"Oh. Ok," he replies, cursing the tone of disappointment he knows is evident in his voice, and turning away from her. _We'd just been caught up in the moment, _he tells himself. _It didn't mean anything. _

"What?" Rose says from behind him.

"What?" he echoes.

"Did you just...you sounded...are you disappointed?" _Ok, maybe he does want to do something romantic for once..._

"What? No. No, of course not," he lies, tugging at his ear.

_He's such a liar. _"Doctor."

He doesn't answer her.

"Doctor," she repeats.

He reluctantly turns around to look at her. "Yes?"

"Should I go get dressed?"

"Huh?" _She is dressed..._

"For our date. Congratulations, you passed the test."

"Wha – I thought you just said..."

"Don't believe everything you hear, Doctor," she tells him, mock-seriously.

"But you...wait_, you_ don't lie to me."

She raises an eyebrow again. "You know that time when Jack was travelling with us and some weird alien computer-like device of yours got broken?"

"Yeah..."

"And I blamed him?"

"Yeah..."

She smirks, biting her lip. "Sorry."

"Wh – what! Rose Tyler, it was you?"

"Yeah. It was his fault really though. He was chasing me and I slipp - "

"He was _what?"_

She blinks at him, surprised at his reaction, but pleased that for some absurd reason, he's still angry with Jack, and not shouting at her. "He was chasing me," she repeats slowly, as if talking to a toddler.

"Why?" he asks. He knows that he shouldn't feel so possessive, but...

She frowns, trying to remember. "I don't know...it was a long time ago. Oh wait! I remember! He'd found this sprig of mistletoe stuck to that Victorian dress I wore for Christmas in Cardiff – well, what I thought was going to be Naples...anyway. Yeah. God knows why he was looking through that section of the wardrobe, but...anyway, he was chasing me with it and...and why are you staring at me like that?"

He clears his throat. "Like what?" he croaks out.

"Like you want to...I dunno...are you ok? You like you're going to have a stroke."

"I'm fine."

_He can't be this angry about me breaking his stupid device thing can he? And what was that face for when I told him about Jack chasing me around with mistletoe...oh. _

_**Oh.**_

A thought suddenly occurs to her. "Wait a sec. You're not..._jealous, _are you?"

"Jealous?" he squeaks out in a rather undignified fashion, he admits. "Time Lords don't get _jealous, _Rose."

"Yeah, well, I'm betting that Time Lords don't usually want to take their human, female companions out for a romantic meal either. I think you're an exception to the rule, Doctor."

"Yes well. It's just...Rose. I asked you a question once. About Jack. Were you lying then, too?" he asks.

She recalls said question. He'd asked her something about 'dancing' and Jack and she'd been quick to reassure him, just like she is now. "God no! No, I was telling the truth. He never...well, let's just say, I think your 'Hands off the Blonde' death glares were a good enough warning for him."

"Evidently not warning enough..." the Doctor mutters under his breath. "So...you were running away from him, then?"

"Huh?"

"If he was chasing you, that implies you were running away from him."

"Oh right. Yeah, I was."

"Why?"

"What?" Now it's Rose's turn to feel confused.

"He was quite...you know. And you were good friends. A kiss under the mistletoe wouldn't mean much, would it?"

She's lost as to where this conversation is going, but she answers with the truth. "I didn't want to kiss him. Like you said, we were good friends by that point. It would've been weird. Quite nice, I suppose – he was a bit sexy. But still. Weird."

The Doctor appears to contemplate this for a moment. He steps towards her, hands in his pockets to appear casual but he's standing no more than a foot away, so really, it doesn't work. "We're good friends. And I am also rather sexy. Would it be weird if I kissed you?"

Her breath hitches. "Um..." _Hell, no, _she thinks.

He leans forward, wiggling his eyebrows conspiratorially. "Or just...'quite nice?'"

She smiles at him, teasing him right back. "I suppose there's only one way to find out," she says. "But it's different, anyway."

"Yeah?" he whispers, and his face is so close to hers now that it takes her a moment to regulate her breathing so that she can speak again.

"Yeah," she replies shakily, looking to the floor.

"How so?" A hand leaves his pocket to tentatively lift her chin so that he can meet her eyes.

"Well, we're not _just_ good friends, are we?" she answers and questions at the same time. She's a bit unsure of why she said it though. She knows how she feels about him, but there's no way he feels the same about her. No way.

"No?" he replies. He lets his hand linger at her chin for a moment, before stroking her jawline softly.

"No," insists Rose, her eyes imploring his, searching for some sort of recognition to that fact in his eyes, so that she doesn't look like a complete fool.

She's astounded that she finds it.

"No. No, I suppose we aren't," he admits quietly.

"There's something else. Here. Between us. Isn't there?" she continues, with a bit more confidence thanks to his admission.

"I think there is, yeah," he says, and she detects a hint of sadness in his tone.

"Is that a bad thing?" she asks nervously.

"Yes," he replies, and her heart almost shatters. Until she hears what he says next, and then it positively _soars._ "Because one day I'll have to let you go. And I don't think I can do that. I think I love you too much."

"You...you...what...you...huh?" she splutters, her hands coming out to grip his shoulders for balance in case her legs give way. She thinks she could quite possibly pass out right now; she's in so much shock.

"I love you, Rose Tyler," he whispers.

"But...you...you don't...wait. No. Yes. No. Are you sure?" she asks.

He chuckles quietly at her disbelief and jumbled response. "I've never been surer of anything in my life. I'm one-hundred-per-cent, completely positively sure."

"Do you mean like...as a friend, or...?" she asks, unwilling to let her heart and mind presume something only to have it pulled away from her if he suddenly tells her he's only joking.

He frowns. "Does a man who loves his friend like a friend want to do...this?" he murmurs.

And that's when he does it.

That's when the Doctor kisses Rose Tyler.

And it's not just any old kiss. Oh no. This is The Kiss. The Kiss; the very one that should be documented and filed away and brought out on special occasions to show the rest of the universe exactly what they are missing. It's The Kiss of her life. And it's The Kiss of his life. And it's bloody brilliant.

Tongues clash and noses bump and two mouths are explored in a very thorough manner, in has to be said. His hands come up to cradle her face as he draws her closer, and she grasps the lapels of his jacket, pressing her body into his, desperately wanting to be closer and closer and closer to him...

Why has he waited this long to snog her? Why? They have been missing _out..._

Eventually pulling back to inhale some oxygen, Rose answers him breathlessly. "I dunno. Maybe if he's just very curious by nature and has an oral fixation..."

He laughs outright at that. "You still don't believe me? You were the one who said there's something more between us than just friendship, Rose Tyler."

"Yeah, well, right now there is," she smirks, gesturing to his lower body with a tilt of her head. He tries to look scandalised at her words, but actually he's sort of grinning, a faint blush tainting his cheeks. Then she answers him properly. "I thought there was...for me, but I never thought...oh god. I never thought you would...wow."

He rests his forehead against hers, one hand trailing up her arm, the other resting on her hip, securing her body close to his. "Believe me, I've wanted to kiss you for a very long time now."

"When?"

"Eh?"

"When was the first time you wanted to kiss me?"

He considers this for a moment. "When you stepped into this room wearing that beautiful dress – when you thought we were going to Naples and I ended up taking you to meet good old Charlie. The very dress that you said Jack found some mistletoe stuck to," he adds, scowling slightly.

"Really? Why didn't you?"

"Weeelll, I...I suppose I didn't think I had an excuse to. I didn't spot that mistletoe, after all."

"No, but there was a hell of a lot of mistletoe around when we fought that werewolf."

"Ah. Yes, good point."

"And before that, actually, at Christmas at Mum's."

"Hmmm."

"And there was New Year's. Everyone kisses at midnight on New Year's. That could've been a good excuse."

"Yeah...I did consider it. But...well, Jackie was there and I thought I'd get another slap, so..."

"And then there've been countless times where we were reunited after being separated. A reunion kiss would have been allowed."

"True," he replies, nodding.

"And then all those times I've been chased, kicked, punched, and almost devoured by aliens. It would only have been polite to kiss me then. You know, to show me how grateful you were at how I'd survived."

"Yeah, I suppose..."

"And then all those people who I've seen you get jealous of. You could've kissed me then, you know – show 'em that I weren't available...Mickey, Adam, Jack, that Prince Xio the Third of Merhaisia, King Henry the Eighth, President Clinton- eugh, that was weird – erm, who else...oh! William Blake, Christopher Columbus, Julius Caesar, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Paul McCartney, Prince Arthur of Camelot..." she tells him, counting off the people using her fingers.

"Yes, yes, ok. I get the picture."

"And _then_ there have been all those times, all those moments – like that one earlier, in my bedroom, when you were doing up my dress – where there's been that feeling, that gorgeous tension; you could have kissed me at any of those times too, you know. You could've...I dunno...used the excuse 'because I can.' That would've worked."

He looks at her, a small smile on his face. "I've wasted so much time, haven't I?"

"Yeah. I've been waiting for this a long time, too, you know. I mean, I know you kissed the vortex out of me, _and _Cassandra gave you a passionate snog whilst in control of my body, neither of which I can remember...so you've already got two up on me. Which isn't very fair," she informs him, smiling when his nose nuzzles hers.

"Mmm," he murmurs in response, about to kiss her again.

"I love you too, by the way," she tells him softly, and he beams at her widely, before capturing her lips with his once more.

Rose reckons that curiosity is a rather wondrous thing.

And no cats died that night.

**A/N: Hope you liked it. Review? Pretty please? One could say that one's curious to see what you think of one's story, but that would be far too cheesy. And god knows why one is suddenly speaking like the Queen...one thinks one's in a rather odd mood...it is rather late at night. Well. Exceptionally early in the morning, actually. **

**Anyways, nitey nite. Much love xxx**


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